While parts of federal government shut down, some Indiana congressional offices remain staffed

Marines recruiter Sgt. Joshua York (left), Indianapolis, confronts former Marines Cpl. Joseph Lohman, Beech Grove, for purposely displaying an upside-down American flag Tuesday on South Emerson Ave. Lohman said his action was to show “the country is in distress.”(Photo: Charlie Nye)Buy Photo

Visitors to Democratic Rep. Andre Carson’s Indianapolis office were greeted with a full staff Tuesday, the first day that parts of the federal government shut down.

But Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly closed his six state offices, forwarding calls to his Washington office, after determining that only seven of his 40 aides would stay on the job.

The contrast in the two offices illustrates the discretion members of Congress have over how to run their offices during a shutdown — even as 800,000 other federal workers across the country, including thousands in Indiana, were furloughed.

Most of the Congressional members from Indiana are furloughing half or more of their staffs while others are operating as usual.

“Whether the government is shut or not, people will call,” said Carson spokeswoman Lauren Burke. “They have questions. They have casework that needs to be done.”

And while the Constitution protects the $174,000 salaries of members of Congress during the shutdown, some lawmakers are asking their pay be delayed until government funding resumes.

“At a time when federal employees aren’t able to receive paychecks, Rep. (Todd) Young thinks it's only fair that he shouldn't be able to receive his paycheck, either,” said Young spokesman Trevor Foughty.

GOP Sen. Dan Coats and Reps. Marlin Stutzman, R-Howe, Jackie Walorski, R-Jimtown, and Larry Bucshon, R-Newburgh, also have asked for their pay to be withheld.

Donnelly plans to donate to a charity or to the U.S. Treasury the portion of his salary that he will receive during the shutdown.

But Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Indianapolis, said that's the wrong approach because it “sends the message that we're not doing our job and that I don't deserve my pay.”

“I am doing my job,” Rokita said. “I’m doing exactly what Hoosiers want me to do and that is fighting against out-of-control growth and spending by the federal government.”

Reps. Luke Messer, R-Shelbyville, and Susan Brooks, R-Carmel, said that asking their pay to be withheld during the shutdown isn't necessary because the impasse should be over before their next paycheck arrives at the end of the month.

“The American people expect us to end the shutdown way before then,” Messer said.

Parts of the federal government shut down Tuesday because Congress failed to pass any of the 12 required annual spending bills for the fiscal year that started Tuesday.

Congress also couldn't agree on a temporary measure to keep the government funded until the budget bills can be finished. Republicans, who control the House, had said any funding bill must also delay parts of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Democrats, who control the Senate and the White House, reject any changes to the law.

Tuesday, House Republicans proposed providing funding for the National Park Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a portion of Washington, D.C., government. Democrats opposed that idea.

While polls show the public is divided over the health care law — commonly referred to as Obamacare — a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday found 72 percent of voters opposed shutting down the government in order to block the law's implementation.

Rokita, however, said that's not what he's hearing from constituents. About 60 percent of the calls to his office through mid-afternoon Tuesday were in support of the shutdown, he said. Two calls that the Indianapolis Republican answered himself at random encouraged him to stand his ground.

The shutdown affects many of the 23,000 federal civilian employees in Indiana who work for the Defense Department or other federal agencies.

About 600 full-time civilian employees and Air Force reservists at Indiana's Grissom Air Reserve Base have been furloughed. About 25 air traffic controllers and 50 base security staff will remain on duty, according to Grissom spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Lockhard.

The Hoosier National Forest has starting shuttering its campgrounds at the 200,000-acre “outhern Indiana forest and 45 staffers are now furloughed. Property spokeswoman Judi Perez says people will still be able to access the forest because it isn’t fenced.

The Indiana National Guard, meanwhile, furloughed about 1,000 federal technicians who are civilian workers, said guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Van Bree. And during the budget impasse, the guard’s 12,000 air and Army guard unit members won’t report for duty and they won’t be paid, she said.

Congressional offices, like federal agencies, have discretion over how to apply the shutdown. And they're interpreting differently the guidance from the House Administration Committee that says only staffers who are needed for members to carry out their constitutional responsibilities — writing laws, voting and communicating with constituents — will continue to work.

“Members have quite a bit of autonomy about who they designate as essential or nonessential,” said John Hudak, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Effective Public Management.

Rokita is keeping two to four of his 15 aides home each day on a rotating basis. Messer furloughed 43 percent of his staff.

Most members of the delegation, including Coats, are furloughing about half or more of their aides. Rep. Pete Visclosky's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Because of the furloughs, Bucshon has put on hold remote office hours and casework. Brooks has postponed most of her satellite district office hours. Young closed his constituent service centers in Bloomington, Greenwood, Seymour and Paoli. Donnelly's office has delayed all constituent services, including casework, responding to messages from Hoosiers, tour requests, orders for flags flown over the Capitol, grant support requests, and other services.

Hudak, of the Brookings Institution, said lawmakers who are sending home most of their aides may be acting in solidarity with the rest of the federal workforce. Others, he said, may be hoping that doing so will help force a solution.

“One of the ways that you end a shutdown is to get the public angry,” Hudak said. “And I think closing district offices and cutting the number of staff that you have is a nice way to get the public angry enough and start calling for a change.”